Magnets and magnetic field around them: what can we learn from simple experiments

Abstract

Small neodymium magnets are useful tools enabling us to do a lot of experiments usable in physics teaching and learning. Simple experiments with these magnets can be done quickly and at minimal cost. Such experiments are usually used to demonstrate or investigate just qualitative features of magnetic field. However, simple experiments, when combined with small pieces of theory, offer much more than that. In the workshop, the participants went from very simple qualitative observations to experiments that, being still simple and low-cost, enable the measurement of the force between magnets and even to estimate the value of magnetic field B inside magnets and around them. The workshop was led in an inquiry-based style and offered a teaching-learning sequence that teachers can adapt for various levels of schools.